Swedish District Football Associations

The District Football Associations are the local governing bodies of association football in Sweden. District FAs exist to govern all aspects of local football in their defined areas, providing grassroots support to the Swedish Football Association by promoting and administering football, futsal and beach soccer in their respective districts.

1.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England

2.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe

3.
Sweden national football team
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The Sweden national football team represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for football in Sweden. Swedens home ground is Friends Arena in the Stockholm urban area, Sweden made their first World Cup appearance in 1934. Sweden has made eleven World Cup appearances and five appearances in the European Championships and they finished second in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and third in both 1950 and 1994. Swedens accomplishments also include a medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics. They reached the semi-finals in UEFA Euro 1992, Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with 11 World Cup appearances and 3 medals in the Olympics. The Swedish team finished second in the 1958 World Cup, when it was the host team, Sweden has also finished third twice, in 1950 and 1994. Sweden played its first international game against Norway on 12 July 1908, other matches in 1908 were played agaisnt England, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, Sweden lost all five matches. In the same year, Sweden competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for the first time, Sweden, however, lost a game in the Olympics against the Great Britain 1–12, the biggest loss in the Swedish national teams history. In 1916, Sweden defeated Denmark for the first time, Sweden played in the 1912 Olympics, the 1920 Olympics, and in the 1924 Olympics, where Sweden took the bronze and their first medal ever. The 1938 World Cup was Swedens second qualification for the World Cup, in the first round, they were scheduled to play against Austria, but after Germanys occupation of Austria, the Austrian team could not continue playing in the tournament. Instead, Sweden went straight to the match against Cuba. They beat Cuba 8–0 with both Harry Andersson and Gustav Wetterström scoring hat-tricks, in the semi-final match against Hungary, Sweden lost 1–5. Swedens next match was the match against Brazil. In that game the Swedes lost 2–4, and ended in fourth place for the first, in the first round, Sweden played against Austria. The Austrian team had qualified without their professional players, which was a surprise since the Austrian league had many players who were allowed to play in the tournament. The match was played at White Hart Lane in London and Sweden won 3–0, in the second game, Sweden played against Korea and won 12–0, one of the two largest margin wins Sweden has ever had. In the semi-final Sweden met their archrivals from Denmark beating them 4–2, the final was played at legendary Wembley Stadium in London. The attendance was around 40,000 people which was high for a game in those days

4.
Allsvenskan
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Allsvenskan is a Swedish professional league for mens association football clubs. It was founded in 1924, and is the top flight of the Swedish football league system, operating on a system of promotion and relegation with Superettan. Seasons run from late March or early April to the beginning of November, with the 16 clubs all meeting each other twice, resulting in a 30-match season, Allsvenskan is ranked 20th in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years. As it stands now, Allsvenskan is ranked highest of the leagues in Scandinavia, the current champions are Malmö FF, who won the title in the 2016 season. Allsvenskan started in the 1924–25 Allsvenskan season and the first winner was GAIS, the one-league twelve team Allsvenskan replaced the Svenska Serien, consisting of a southern and northern group that was held before. In 1931, the league started to decide the Swedish football champions, in the early years, Norrland and Gotland teams were not allowed to play on higher levels in the league system, which was gradually changed to include the Norrland and Gotland teams on higher levels. In the 1955–56 season, Lycksele IF became the first Norrland team to play in an Allsvenskan promotion play-off, for the 1959 Allsvenskan, the season start was changed from autumn to spring to be played in one calendar year. In 1973, it was expanded to contain 14 teams. C, from the 1982 season, the league introduced a play-off to determine the Swedish football champions. In the late 1980s, Malmö FF were dominant, winning the five times in a row. The 1990 season saw the introduction of three points per win, the play-off season years were followed by two years of continuation league, named Mästerskapsserien. The 1993 season saw a return to the format, again with 14 teams. IFK Göteborg won five Allsvenskan league titles in the 1990s, in the early 2000s, Djurgårdens IF won three titles. In 2004, Örebro SK lost its place in the due to financial problems. Since 2008, the league consists of 16 teams, the champions of the Allsvenskan are considered Swedish champions and gold medal winners. The runners-up are awarded the Large Silver medal, the third positioned team are awarded the Small Silver medal, there have been seasons with exceptions when the winners of Allsvenskan wasnt considered Swedish champions as well. The years 1982 through 1990 are also exceptions, the title was decided through play-offs during these years. The same was true for the years 1991 through 1992 when the title was decided through a league called Mästerskapsserien. Historically, there is though a big difference between the Allsvenskan winners before 1931 compared to the period between 1982 and 1992, since 2008 there are 16 clubs in Allsvenskan

5.
Superettan
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Superettan is a professional league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish mens football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Allsvenskan, seasons run from April to October, with teams playing 30 matches each, totalling 240 matches in the season. The league was created in 2000, the second tier of Swedish football had previously consisted of a varying number of regionalized leagues operating under the Division 2 and Division 1 names. There are 16 clubs in Superettan, during the course of a season each club plays the other twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 30 games. The top two teams in Superettan are promoted to Allsvenskan and the two lowest placed teams from Allsvenskan are relegated in their place, the third placed team in Superettan plays a promotion/relegation play-off against the third lowest team in Allsvenskan. The Swiss corporation Kentaro has owned the TV rights for Superettan since 2006, the current license agreement is valid from 2011 to 2015. 1 Correct as of end of 2015 season The current managers in Superettan are, the highest attendance ever recorded at a Superettan match is 31,074. The leagues best season attendance-wise was 2014 when Hammarbys average attendance reached a level that was extraordinary for Superettan, sports attendances Allsvenskan Swedish Football Association - Superettan

6.
Division 1 (Swedish football)
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Division 1 is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 28 Swedish football teams. Division 1 was the second tier from 1987 to 1999, but was replaced by Superettan in 2000 and it was reestablished for the 2006 season as the third tier below Superettan. There are 28 clubs in Division 1, divided in two groups of 14 teams each representing Northern and Southern Sweden. During the course of a season each club plays the others twice, once at their stadium and once at that of their opponents. At the end of season the three lowest placed teams of each group are relegated to Division 2 and the six winning teams from the six Division 2 leagues are promoted in their place. The top team in each Division 1 group is promoted to Superettan, the second placed teams in each Division 1 group plays a promotion/relegation play-off against the third and fourth lowest teams in Superettan. 1 Correct as of end of 2015 season Note, In 2007 the runners up were promoted automatically without playoffs because of Allsvenskan expanding to 16 teams

7.
Swedish Football Association
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The Swedish Football Association is the governing and head body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues — Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women — and it is based in Solna and is a founding member of both FIFA and UEFA. SvFF is supported by 24 district organisations, SvFF is affiliated to the Swedish Sports Confederation and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association and Union of European Football Associations. Karl-Erik Nilsson has been the President since 2012, in 2009 there were 3,359 clubs affiliated to the Svenska Fotbollförbundet with a total of more than a million members, of whom about 500,000 were active players. Together, they accounted for almost one third of the total Swedish sports movement activities, SvFF administers the Swedish mens respectively womens national football teams, other football teams and leagues including the Allsvenskan and Superettan. The motto of Swedish football – one club in every village, all football competition in the nation is arranged by the SvFF and its 24 district organisations. The clubs are voting members at the meetings of the district organisations. The district organisations and the clubs are entitled to vote at the F. A. s general meeting. SvFF was the owner of Swedens national stadium, the Råsunda Stadium in Solna, from 1999 until it was replaced in 2012 by Friends Arena, located about 1 kilometer away. SvFF is the partner in the consortium that owns the current stadium. The Swedish Football Association Football Gala is held annually in November since 2005 and it includes the award for the best male player and female players. SvFF had a turnover 2008 of 554 MSEK, the new organisation had a football and hockey section. In 1904 Sweden was one of 7 nations that founded FIFA, in 1906 the name Svenska Fotbollförbundet was officially accepted and the following year SvFF was officially voted into FIFA. On 12 July 1908, Swedens first international match was played in which Norway were defeated 11–3 in Gothenburg, however the Olympics were a disappointment for Sweden, losing 1–12 to England and 0–2 to the Netherlands. The 24 district organisations are as follows, Swedish Football Association Svenska Fotbollslandslagen Facebook Sweden at FIFA site Sweden at UEFA site

8.
Sweden women's national football team
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Sweden womens national football team officially represents Sweden in womens association football. Sweden won the European Competition for Womens Football in 1984, a success the team has not managed to repeat, the team has participated in six Olympic Games, seven World Cups, as well as nine European Championships. Sweden won the medal at the 2011 FIFA Womens World Cup. The 2003 World Cup-final was the second most watched event in Sweden that year, lotta Schelin is the top goalscorer in the history of Sweden with 85 goals. Schelin surpassed Hanna Ljungbergs 72-goal record against Germany on 29 October 2014, the player with the most caps is Therese Sjögran, with 214. Sundhages contract goes into effect in December 2012, after winning the two qualifying matches against Denmark for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Swedish Olympic Committee approved of record increases in investments for the womens team. The new budget granted over a million SEK for the team and 150,000 SEK per player for developing physical fitness, the new grants are almost a 100% increase of the 2005 and 2006 season funds. The developments and conditions of the Sweden womens national team can be seen in the Sveriges Television documentary television series The Other Sport from 2013. *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks, **Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil, the following is a list of matches in 2016 The following is a list of matches in 2017 Squad for the 2017 Algarve Cup. Caps and goals as of 24 January 2017

9.
Svenska Cupen
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Svenska Cupen is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the tournament, although a womens tournament is also held. Each year 98 teams compete, comprising the 16 teams from Allsvenskan, the winners qualify for the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League. The winner is awarded Gustaf VI Adolf Cup, compared to cups in many other countries, Svenska Cupen attracts considerably less public interest and even the cup final is rarely sold out. Consequently, the Swedish Football Association has experimented with the format in order to raise the profile of the cup, the final has been staged at a neutral venue, at the national stadium as well as being played as a two-leg match. Svenska Cupen was first held in 1941, the current holders of Svenska Cupen are BK Häcken, who beat Malmö FF after penalties in the 2016 final for their first cup title. Malmö FF are the most successful club of the competition having won 14 titles, the winner of Svenska Cupen qualifies for the first qualification round of the UEFA Europa League. The qualification spot is awarded to the fourth positioned team in Allsvenskan if the winner is qualified for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Champions League. Only teams in Division 1 or lower are included, because teams in Allsvenskan and Superettan are automatically qualified for Round 2 and this is the number of places each of the districts will have in the first round of the 2015–16 Svenska Cupen. Updated as of 31 May 2015